Not This Time

Nina: July 18, 1984

     The monitor cables made a soft thunk sound every time they hit the stage. The crew had set the monitors out, but I liked making sure the cords were taped down myself. I dropped the end of the cord next to the monitor and went to stand center stage. I glanced up at the equipment hanging above my head, glad it was secured already, before looking between the monitors.
     I returned to one monitor, plugged it in, and proceeded to tape the cord down. I smoothed down the tape and repeated the process on the other side of the stage. When I looked up, there were musicians onstage with their instruments. Someone had taken the initiative to give the guitarists wireless input packs. I closed my eyes and grimaced, praying that whoever passed out the inputs remembered which channels were assigned to each guitar.
     Jon looked up at me and smirked. My stomach flipped. I gave him an awkward smile back and dropped my gaze. I already knew about the kind of fun he and his band had on tour. It was history for me, even though it hadn't happened for him yet. I found myself wondering if he remembered any of their names the next morning. I found myself wondering if I'd even care.
     I closed my eyes and shook my head as I got up from smoothing down the tape. I could not keep thinking like that. There was no point in getting involved with him in even the slightest way. I knew what his future held and it was too nice to risk for a one night stand. I shook my head again, heading down the stairs at the back of the stage.
     "Nina, is it?" a slightly German accent asked uncertainly. I knew it could only be one of the Scorpions. I looked over to find their guitarist, Matthias Jabs, leaning against a stage leg awkwardly. I smiled slightly and nodded.
     "Yeah, Nina," I confirmed, "What's up?"
     He stepped forward slightly. "I was watching your check the other day," he commented, "It's different." He paused and then quickly added, "A good different."
     "..Danke?" I answered uncertainly. I wasn't sure if that was a compliment. It almost felt like he was flirting with me. At the very least I knew whatever he was leading up to wasn't about my sound check technique.
     His smile brightened. "Bitte. You speak Deutsch?"
     I laughed a little and shook my head. "Only a few basic phrases."
     "I could teach you if you'd like," he offered. There it was again, that feeling that he wasn't just talking. I smiled awkwardly again and shook my head with a shrug.
     "It's alright," I said, "Thanks for offering, but I don't go to Germany enough to have a need." I shrugged again. I motioned over my shoulder, up the stairs. "Traveling with those guys, I might need to learn Japanese," I joked.
     He smiled and paused for a moment, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Well, I, um, I know we haven't really spoken much," he said hesitantly, "But I wanted to ask if you would consider a date once tour is over so maybe we can fix that." He offered me a small smile.
     I stared at him for a moment and then looked away with an embarrassed grin. I chuckled awkwardly and ran a hand through my hair. Oh. That's what was up. I brought a hand to my face to cover the blush burning my cheeks.
     "Oh, boy," I sighed, "I, uh, I'm flattered, really, but I-I can't." I knew I was going home at the end of tour, back to 2009. His smile fell a little, but he nodded.
     "Boyfriend?" he guessed.
     I grinned again and shook my head. "No, actually," I laughed, "I just have way too much shit up in the air right now to throw in an international relationship."
     "Ah," he chuckled awkwardly, picking up his guitar from where it was leaning on a rollaway case, "Well it was worth a shot." I couldn't stop smiling at that accent. It was a strange mix of German, English, and American. I was certain I'd never hear another one like it.
     "Really, though, I am flattered," I told him, still grinning, "You're going to make some woman very happy someday. I know it." I actually did know it, too. I remembered reading about his marriage in 2004.
     "I'm glad somebody does," he snickered as he headed up the stairs with his guitar.
     As soon as he was up on stage, I got out of the stairway and let myself freak out for a moment. The lead guitarist of the Scorpions had just asked me out! How crazy was that? I wasn't even sure how I'd caught his eye, but apparently I had.
     Jon's smirk flashed in my mind and my stomach flipped again. Oh yeah, that's right. I'd gotten his and Richie's attention somehow too. I wasn't sure how. I'd been pretty good about not talking to them if I didn't have to, especially Jon. I don't think I'd spoken to him outside of sound check so far this tour.
     "Nina?" a guy's voice asked, pulling me out of my thoughts. I looked up and around to find Gunther, one of the road hands, escorting Matt toward me. "This guy said he was looking for you," Gunther explained.
     "Yeah, I know him," I sighed. Gunther turned away as I added, "Thanks Gunther." He waved a little over his shoulder, but didn't stop walking.
     "Y'know it's so hard to find you," Matt complained as I guided him over toward the tunnel entrance, "You guys are all over the place!"
     I frowned and shook my head. "If you needed to find me so bad, why didn't you look up the tour dates? They became public information online as soon as the Internet was old enough to develop a Bon Jovi page." He frowned right back at me, but I wasn't bothered; Matt didn't scare me. "How did you get back here? They don't let the public in before show."
     Matt shrugged. "I told them I worked here," he said.
     "I cannot believe that worked," I scoffed.
     Matt shrugged again. "You ready to go? It's been six months."
     I crossed my arms and gaped at him. "You're kidding, right? Matt, we talked about this!" For sure, there weren't any displacement problems in just six months. "I told you I couldn't leave in the middle of tour!"
     "When?" Matt challenged. I could tell by his face that he genuinely didn't remember. He looked so confused.
     I raised an eyebrow. "At the end of November?" I reminded him, "I went home for those three months, remember?"
     Matt looked up and nodded. "Right," he sighed, "I remember now."
     I looked back toward the stage. I felt like someone was watching me. Nope, just Matthias and Jon talking about something with their guitars. Richie was tuning his guitar. I couldn't see anybody else on stage from where I was standing.
     "So here's the thing," Matt said, scratching the back of his head. I turned back to look at him as he continued, "When we take you back home, you're going to be a year older and people would notice that too. We'd have to skip to 2010."
     I gaped at him. Was he mad? I shook my head. "No way! I can't do that! What about Penny?" I exclaimed quietly, "You know her, she'd report me missing for sure!"
     Matt threw his arms out to either side, shaking his head. He looked like he was about to say something when a door closed down the hall and voices could be heard making noise. Matt and I both looked down the tunnel to find the Scorpions heading toward us.
     "What's up, Nina?" Klaus laughed, as he passed, offering Matt and me each a high five. I grinned back and returned his high five. Matt glanced at me but slapped Klaus's hand cautiously. Klaus looked at him for a second before turning to me, giving me a kissy face, and then continuing toward the stage, followed by his band mates.
     I let them get closer to the stage and turned back to Matt. "What about that revitalize thing? The thing Emma was talking about?" I suggested. Matt glared at me.
     "The RevitaLight?"
     I nodded.
     "No, Nina! Gosh, I'm gonna have to get a Forget Strip for you!" he muttered, trying to hide a knowing smile. I scoffed, crossing my arms again. He knew I didn't know what a Forget Strip was. I stared expectantly, but he just looked away, like he was waiting.
     I smirked. "Alright, I'll bite. What's a Forget Strip?" I asked. Matt grinned. He always enjoyed having an opportunity to brag about the cool things Humans could do in the future.
     "It's a strip that makes you forget," Matt joked. God, he'd been waiting to make that joke. I raised an eyebrow and glared at him.
     "I'm gonna hit you," I warned.
     With a laugh, Matt added, "You write what you want to forget on it and then stick it to your forehead. It sticks just like a Band Aid and erases all the memories relating to whatever you wrote on it."
     I leaned back against the tunnel wall, staring at him. "Humans figure out how to erase memories?" I asked, "I didn't think that was possible."
     Matt pointed at me. "I knew you were smart," he said, "You're right. Technically, it's not possible. What people in the 40th Century call erasing memories is actually more like blocking memories," Matt explained, "It's just barring those memories from being visited, but that block is so difficult to break that people rarely ever see those memories again. So they just call it erasing."
     I grinned. "Besides," I giggled, "'blocking a memory' doesn't sound half as cool as 'erasing a memory'."
     "That too," he agreed with a laugh. He looked over at the stage as I tried to wrap my mind around the things Humans would be capable of in the future. He clapped his hands, grabbing my attention again, and said, "Alright, so what about here and now."
     "I've got to stay here for now, Matt," I retorted, playing on his words. He wrinkled his nose at my doing so and I smirked. "Listen, tour's half over. You already said I could stay for the whole thing."
     "This thing's only half over?" he gasped.
     I shrugged and nodded. "I told you until November."
     "What are we going to do about the age difference?" he asked again.
     I shrugged again, shaking my head this time. "You won't let me use a RevitaLight, so I have no idea. I can't skip a year back home, though. That would be disastrous."
     Matt frowned and looked away. He looked like he was weighing his options. I looked away toward the stage to see Richie and Rudolf having a guitar battle to see who could riff faster. Jon was standing behind Richie, tapping his friend's shoulder in excitement. It looked like he was saying "he's beating you!"
     Richie looked intent upon winning, a knowing smirk playing on his face. I couldn't hear what they were playing, but someone slipped up and everyone exploded into cheers or groans. I couldn't tell who'd won. I kept my eyes on Jon and Richie, who were both laughing. Jon punched his guitarist's arm and looked over at the sound booth. He said something to Richie and looked around. He stopped when he spotted me. I dropped my gaze immediately, wanting to avoid another blush-inducing moment of unintended eye contact.
     Matt let out a heavy sigh and looked up at me with a frown. I raised an eyebrow at him. "I make this decision reluctantly," he sighed, "Because you're my friend and I don't want to see your life upturned." I thanked him and he went on, "We can make a detour in 4724 so you can use Emma's RevitaLight," Matt said. I grinned in excitement, but Matt pointed at me sternly. "You're not allowed to buy one," he conditioned, "But you can use one."
     "Okay!" I chirped. He dropped his hand and then smiled at me slightly.
     "I'll be back at the end of November then." He said, checking his watch and then glancing up at the stage. "I think your boys are coming," he muttered before walking away down the tunnel.
     I glanced over at the stage as well to find Bon Jovi collectively stumbling, jumping, and pushing each other down the stairs. I looked back down the tunnel to where Matt was walking away.
     "Thank you!" I called. He turned around and waved, but never stopped walking. I waved back and added, "See ya!" When I turned back around the band was sauntering toward me.
     Richie threw his arms out to either side. "That your boyfriend, sound girl?"
     "What's it to ya, Sambora?" I challenged as they got closer. I leaned on the wall casually as they formed a sort of semicircle around me.
     "Inquiring minds want to know," Richie laughed, looking around at the band, who all snickered with him. Even I grinned at the cheesy phrase. I looked around at their faces before bringing my attention back to Richie.
     "Inquiring minds can mind their own business," I replied. As the guys laughed at my clever response, I pushed through them toward the barricade that would separate the audience from backstage once the public was let in.
     Richie called after me. "Is that a yes?"
     I turned around and walked backwards, shaking my head. "No! Not at all!" I shouted back with a disgusted wrinkle in my nose but a hint of amusement in my tone. I could never see Matt that way. He was more like a brother. I shook my head and turned back around. "Check in five," I informed them as I walked away.